En marge de l’architecture: Encounters beyond the discipline
Collateral Event of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia

Salonniers: Marcel Bächtiger, Tim Kammasch and Stanislas Zimmermann
Local Salonnière: Laura Tinti
Location: Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi, Campo S. Agnese, Dorsoduro 810, Venice
Vaporetto stop: Zattere or Accademia

Opening event: 24 May 2018 at 6.30 pm

Organised by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, the «Salon Suisse» runs concomitantly to the exhibition at the Pavilion of Switzerland at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Consisting of a series of lectures, talks and cultural events, it provides an opportunity to explore architecture in a stimulating atmosphere.

Directed by architectural historian Marcel Bächtiger, cultural theorist Tim Kammasch and architect Stanislas Zimmermann, with the support of local Salonnière Laura Tinti, this year’s programme is an invitation to take a journey. If architecture is an island within the archipelago of the artistic and scientific disciplines, then the Salon is a ship that has left the harbour. From foreign shores, the «Salon Suisse» will look back at architecture and explore its current cultural and social relevance.

Global economic interdependencies affect the existence of every individual; the complexities of transnational power and decision-making undermine democracy and civic engagement; while the dizzying pace of digitalisation is redefining human beings and their living environment. Inevitably, these phenomena also influence the self- concept of architecture and of architects. Is the traditional role of architecture as built expressions of society becoming increasingly marginalised? Is «architecture» merely a dazzling disguise of realities that can no longer be influenced nor shaped? Do architects find themselves downgraded to vicarious agents of an anonymous real estate market? What social and cultural significance can the built environment have under these circumstances? And what would a culture that deserves to be called «human» look like architecturally?

In the long history of architecture, such moments have always proved most fruitful when the discourse opened up to ideas, insights and inventions from other disciplines. Today, it is time to set sail again. Exploring foreign shores, the journey leads to philosophers and anthropologists, writers, musicians and artists, comparatists and social researchers. By discussing their work and their link to architecture, the «Salon Suisse» will look at new perspectives, not only on the potentials of architecture in the 21st century, but also on the hidden connections that have always existed among the different disciplines.

The Enlightenment idea of the «Salon» as a place for informative conversations and convivial exchange will be revived at the Palazzo Trevisan. Each soirée is also a cultural event: a concert, a lecture or a performance; a tangible experience that will spark conversations.

The «Salon Suisse» programme features an opening event on 24 May followed by three subsequent weekends of events, taking place in the evenings at 6.30 pm from Thursday to Saturday.

Please find more information about the «Salon Suisse» program in the official booklet.

Partner of the «Salon Suisse» is Laufen Bathrooms AG

Bern University of Applied Sciences is the collaborator of «Salon Suisse» 2018

 

Salon Suisse, Biennale di Venezia 2018 – Salon Suisse 2: Exploration 1.